Court upholds verdict on anti-State instigator Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, aka facebooker "Me Nam" was convicted of propagandising against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)

Khanh Hoa (VNA) – The Da Nang-based
Council of Judges of the Vietnam Supreme People’s Court on November 30 upheld a
10-year imprisonment sentence for Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, aka facebooker “Me
Nam”, who was convicted of propagandising against the State of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam under Article 88 of the Penal Code.

The appeal trial took place in Nha Trang city,
the central province of Khanh Hoa.

Quynh, born in 1979, resided in Vinh Phuoc ward
of Nha Trang city. She was taken into custody by the Investigation Security
Agency of the Khanh Hoa Department of Public Security on October 10, 2016.

According to the indictment, from 2012 to
October 2016, she used her personal Facebook page to draft, post and share many
stories with false and groundless contents that distorted, criticised and
defamed the guidelines and policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam and law
of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, falsified Vietnam’s
revolutionary history, and split the national unity bloc.

Those stories stirred up public worries and
affected people’s trust in the Party’s leadership and the State’s governance
and management of society, and incited people to resist the State, thus harming
national security and social order and safety.

From 2013 to 2016, Quynh also gave many
interviews to foreign press and media outlets, in which she distorted the
domestic situation in terms of history, economy, politics, defence, diplomacy,
law, democracy, and human rights, the indictment said.

In 2014, she created and posted a file of
documents named “Stop police killing civilians” with hostile stance and
viewpoints against the People’s Public Security force.

Quynh, for many times, organised or took part in
activities and events which aimed to incite people to oppose the State. She
also kept at her house some publications with content distorting the socialist
regime ad inciting people to sabotage the great national unity bloc, according
to the indictment.

At the appeal trial, Quynh admitted all the
violations but she said the actions did not mean to oppose the State.

The lawyers at the trial also focused on this
point to defend Quynh.

However, the Council of Judges said basing on
the defendant’s statements and confessions during the investigation, evidence
and documents of the case, arguments at the trial, along with opinions of
procurators, the defendant, and the lawyers, it concluded that the verdict
issued at the first instance trial is not wrong.

Therefore, under Clause 1 of Article 88 of the
Penal Code, the court upheld the 10-year jail sentence for Quynh for conducting
propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.-VNA